“He hasn’t put a wheel wrong. Daniel couldn’t have done much more,” Webber said as he prepares for the next big challenge in his own career, the Le Mans 24-hour race in France with Porsche.

Webber said he was cheering from his adopted home in Britain as he watched Ricciardo score his first GP win in Canada.

“It’s good that we didn’t have to wait another 20 years for an Aussie to win another race. I’m happy about that, and it was great to see him cross the line and hear that national anthem again on the podium. It was bloody great,” Webber said.

“It was a phenomenal race and it was important that he was there to capitalise on the Mercedes having a bad day. He hasn’t put a wheel wrong. All the tricky sessions he has done well in.”

Webber says he was confident Ricciardo would rise to the challenge at Red Bull, despite racing alongside four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel.

“People laughed at me when I said it would be 50-50 between him and Seb in quali (qualifying).”

Webber said it is great to see a successful youngster in F1 who has not just paid to play.

“It’s what Formula One need, a fair share of these young guys coming in that have the talent and deserve the seats because the older guys with the names aren’t going to be around forever. We have a generation gap of guys that paid their way in, and Daniel isn’t one of them.”

Webber said it is too early yet to truly measure Ricciardo against Vettel, as the German star has had lots of mechanical niggles through the early races of 2014. including retirement in the Australian Grand Prix.

“In his first four or five months, he (Ricciardo) has done really well, but Seb has had a rough run with reliability. You measure them over the course of a few years and see how they go, but the season has been underway for five minutes, in reality.”

Ricciardo’s win in Canada came against the run of play in F1, where Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg have mostly been fighting a private Benz battle for victories. They have won all but one of the races so far this year and one of them is an odds-on certainty to claim the world title in 2014.

“For Seb and Fernando (Alonso) and these guys it’s not great knowing they turn up and can only race for third, generally. But for Daniel it’s all great.”

Webber again emphasised that he was happy to have left Formula One, even though the change to new technical regulations this year could have suited him more than recent seasons where Vettel was clearly on top at Red Bull Racing.